A Sawbridgeworth woman who was convicted of stealing from her employers earlier this year has been ordered to pay them back almost £7,000 in compensation.

Claire Cornell, 27, of The Meadows, was jailed for 14 months in June for stealing £11,853.05 from Sawbridgeworth holiday company The Dream Lodge Group, but was released on license with an electric tag at the start of October.

She appeared before St Albans Crown Court today (October 25) for a proceeds of crime hearing and Judge Graham Arran issued a confiscation order for assets worth £6,885, giving 28 days for the order to be completed.

Cornell's car, personalised number plates and second-hand hand bags are subject to the confiscation order and will be seized by police, who will then auction them off.

The £6,885 will be given back to her former employer Dream Lodge, whom she worked for between August last year and January of this year.

Cornell swindled the company, which rents out luxury lodges in eight parks around the country, out of almost £12,000 by processing fake refunds into her own account.

Her deception was uncovered when the company's commercial director looked into the irregular refunds and found Cornell was on duty alone when they were processed.

Judge Arran also ordered Cornell to pay £425 in prosecution costs, which she has four months to do.